A PROJECT REPORT

ON

“CONTENT MARKETING AS A PART OF AN EFFECTIVE ONLINE

MARKETING STRATEGY”

(CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF ORISSA)

Completed at

PANCAJANYA- DIGITAL MARKETING AND ADVERTISING AGENCY

BY
DEEPANJALI AGRAWAL

(ENROLLMENT NO:- 19/06/DBM/15)

In partial fulfillment for the award of degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

INTERNAL GUIDE
Mr. Srinibash Rao
Dept. of Business Management
CUO
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

EXTERNAL GUIDE
Mr. Amrut Patnaik (Creative Director)
Pancajanya Digital marketing & advertising agency, BBSR

1
 DECLARATION

I Deepanjali Agrawal, Enrolment No:19/06/DBM/15 student of MBA department of Central

University of Orissa and I do here by declare that the present study was undertaken by me
under the guidance of Mr. Srinibash Rao, Faculty, DBM and the project report entitle
“Content Marketing as a Part of an Effective Online Marketing Strategy” at Pancajanya
Digital Marketing and Advertising Agency is my own and neither has been submitted to any
other institution any beforehand.

Deepanjali Agrawal
ENROLLMENT NO:- 19/06/DBM/15
MBA

2
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the summer internship report titled ― Content Marketing as a Part of an
Effective Online Marketing Strategy is the bona-fide research work carried out by Ms.
Deepanjali Agrawal, student of MBA., at Central University Orissa, Koraput in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of MBA and that the report has
not formed the basis for the award previously of any degree, diploma, associate ship,
fellowship or any other similar title.

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my proved privilege to release the feelings of my gratitude of several persons who

helped me directly or indirectly to conduct this project work on “Content Marketing as a
Part of an Effective Online Marketing Strategy” I express my deep thanks of gratitude to my
guide Mr. Srinibash Rao, Faculty, DBM of Central University of Orissa for her kind
approval of this project work in PANCAJANYA- DIGITAL MARKETING AND
ADVERTISING AGENCY. I am extremely thankful to Mr. AMRUT PATNAIK, Creative
Director, Pancajanya digital marketing and advertising agency for allowing me to conduct the
study in the organization and extending co-operation to me during my training period.

I offer my special thanks to all the employees of PANCAJANYA- DIGITAL MARKETING

AND ADVERTISING AGENCY for their kind and affectionate co-operation to me during
my training period.

I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to my parents for their constant
support and inspiration in every walk of life. I express my heartful thanks to my friends for
their kind co-operation in completing the project.

I am very much thankful to my H.O.D i/c Dr. A Mohan Murlidhar of Central University of
Orissa for his kind help and suggestions as well as his effort which made it possible for me
to present the hardcopy in front of you.

4
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Declaration
Certificate
Acknowledgment

1. Introduction to the project

 Digital content marketing
 Why digital content marketing
 History of content marketing
 Principles of content marketing
 Effective Content marketing strategy
 Content marketing through various channels
2. Company Profile
 Mission
 Vision
 Company services and products
3. Literature review
4. Objectives of the study
5. Research objectives and Methodology
 Research problem
 Research objectives
 Research methodology
 Survey method
 Data collection
 Sampling method
6. Data analysis and interpretation
7. Finding & Suggestion
8. Conclusion
9. Questionnaire
10. Bibliography

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 Chapter – 1
Introduction to the Project

6
 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT

Content marketing attracts prospects and transforms prospects into customers by creating and
sharing valuable free content. Content marketing helps companies create sustainable brand
loyalty, provides valuable information to consumers, and creates a willingness to purchase
products from the company in the future. This relatively new form of marketing does not
involve direct sales. Instead, it builds trust and rapport with the audience

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing

content for a targeted audience online.

It is often used by businesses in order to:

 Attract attention and generate leads

 Expand their customer base
 Generate or increase online sales
 Increase brand awareness or credibility
 Engage an online community of users

Unlike other forms of online marketing, content marketing relies on anticipating and meeting
an existing customer need for information, as opposed to creating demand for a new need. As
James O'Brien of Contently wrote on Mashable, "The idea central to content marketing is that
a brand must give something valuable to get something valuable in return. Instead of the
commercial, be the show. Instead of the banner ad, be the feature story."[3] Content
marketing requires continuous delivery of large amounts of content, preferably within a
content marketing strategy.

When businesses pursue content marketing, the main focus should be the needs of the
prospect or customer. Once a business has identified the customer's need, information can be
presented in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, info graphics,
email newsletters, case studies, podcasts, how-to guides, question and answer articles,
photos, blogs, etc. Most of these formats belong to the digital channel.

Digital content marketing is a management process that uses electronic channels to identify,
forecast, and satisfy the content requirements of a particular audience. It must be consistently
updated and added to in order to influence the behavior of customers.

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Traditional marketers have long used content to disseminate information about a brand and
build a brand's reputation. Taking advantage of technological advances in transportation and
communication, business owners started to apply content marketing techniques in the late
19th century. They also attempted to build connections with their customers. For example:

 In 1732, Benjamin Franklin issued the Poor Richard’s Almanack to promote his printing
business
 In 1888, Johnson & Johnson introduced a publication called “Modern Methods of
Antiseptic Wound Treatment” targeted to doctors that used bandages. They also released
two publications that contained tips for the medical community.
 In 1895, John Deere launched the magazine The Furrow providing information to farmers
on how to become more profitable. The magazine, considered the first custom
publication, is still in circulation, reaching 1.5 million readers in 40 countries in 12
different languages.
 In 1900, Michelin developed the Michelin Guide, offering drivers information on auto
maintenance, accommodations, and other travel tips. 35,000 copies were distributed for
free in this first edition.
 In 1904, Jell-O salesmen went door-to-door, distributing their cookbook for free. Touting
the dessert as a versatile food, the company saw its sales rise to over $1 million by
1906.[citation needed]
 In 1933, Procter & Gamble started to broadcast a radio serial drama sponsored by their
Oxydol soap powder. The owners wanted to build brand loyalty by aiming to adult
women. They could intermix their marketing messages into the serial drama. The term
soap opera was born in this year, and they marked a precedent for native ads.
Engagement with the audience was a key element with the creation of this content.

During the golden age of TV, between the 1940s and 1950s, advertising took over the media.
Companies focused on sales rather than connecting with the public. There were few ventures
into content marketing and not many prominent campaigns.

During the baby boom era, Kellogg's began selling sugary cereal to children. With this
change in business model came sociable animal mascots, lively animated commercials and
the back of the cereal box as a form of targeted content marketing. Infographics were born in
this era. This represented a new approach to make a brand memorable with the audience.

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In the 1990s, everything changed for marketers. The arrival of computers and the Internet
made websites and blogs flourish, and corporations found content marketing opportunities
through email. E-commerce adaptations and digital distribution became the foundation of
marketing strategy.

Internet also helped content marketing become a mainstream form of marketing. Traditional
media such as newspapers, magazines, radio and TV started to lose their power in the
marketplace. Companies started to promote and sell their products digitally.

The phrase "content marketing" was used as early as 1996, when John F. Oppedahl led a
roundtable for journalists at the American Society for Newspaper Editors.

 In 1998, Jerrell Jimerson held the title of "director of online and content marketing" at
Netscape.
 In 1999, author Jeff Cannon wrote, “In content marketing, content is created to provide
consumers with the information they seek.”

By the late 2000s, when social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube were born,
online content marketing was accessible, shareable and on-demand anytime worldwide.

By 2014, Forbes Magazine's website had written about the seven most popular ways
companies use content marketing. In it, the columnist points out that by 2013, use of content
marketing had jumped across corporations from 60% a year or so before, to 93%[15] as part
of their overall marketing strategy. Despite the fact that 70% of organizations are creating
more content, only 21% of marketers think they are successful at tracking return on
investment.

Today, content marketing has become a powerful model for marketers. Storytelling is part of
it, and they must convey the companies’ messages or goal to their desired audience without
pushing them to just buy the product or service.

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 DIGITAL CONTENT MARKETING
Digital content marketing, which is a management process, uses digital products through
different electronic channels to identify, forecast and satisfy the necessity of the customers. It
must be consistently maintained to preserve or change the behavior of customers. [citation
needed]

Examples:

 On March 6, 2012, Dollar Shave Club launched their online video campaign. In the first
48 hours of their video debuting on YouTube they had over 12,000 people signing up for
the service. The video cost just $4500 to make and as of November 2015 has had more
than 21 million views. The video was considered as one of the best viral marketing
campaigns of 2012 and won "Best Out-of-Nowhere Video Campaign" at the 2012 AdAge
Viral Video Awards.
 The Big Word Project, launched in 2008, aimed to redefine the Oxford English
Dictionary by allowing people to submit their website as the definition of their chosen
word. The project, created to fund two Masters students' educations, attracted the
attention of bloggers worldwide, and was featured on Daring Fireball and Wired
Magazine.
 In mid 2016, an Indian tea company (TE-A-ME) has delivered 6,000 tea
bags[29] to Donald Trump and launched a video content on YouTube and Facebook. The
video campaign received various awards including most creative PR
stunt[30] in Southeast Asia after receiving 52000+ video shares, 3.1M video view in first
72-hour and hundreds of publication mentions (including Mashable, Quartz, Indian
Express, Buzzfeed across 80+ countries.

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 WAY DIGITAL CONTENT MARKETING

Combination of the supply chain and the users' experience

The supply chain of digital content marketing mainly consists of commercial stakeholders
and end-user stakeholders which represent content providers and distributors and customers
separately. In this process, distributors manage the interface between the publisher and the
consumer, then distributors could identify the content that consumers need through external
channels and implement marketing strategies. For instance, Library and document supply
agencies as intermediaries can deliver the digital content of e-books, and e-journal articles to
the users according to their search results through the electronic channels. Another example is
when consumers pay for the acquisition of some MP3 downloads, search engines can be used
to identify different music providers and smart agents can be used by consumers to search for
multiple music provider sites. In a word, the digital content marketing process needs to be
conducted at the business level and service experience level because when consumers are
accessing digital content, their own experience depends on the complex network of
relationships in the content marketing channels such as websites and videos. The consumers
interact directly with distributors in the big supply chain through various digital products
which have an important role in meeting the requirements of the consumers. The design and
user experience of these channels directly decides the success of digital content marketing.

Interaction with the consumer through electronic service

Electronic services refer to interactive network services. In the electronic service, the
interaction between the customer and the organizations mainly through the network
technology, such as using E-mail, telephone, online chat windows for communication.
Electronic services are different from traditional services and they are not affected by
distance restrictions and opening hours. Digital content marketing through electronic service
is usually served together with other channels to achieve marketing purposes including face-
to-face, postal, and other remote services. Information companies provide different messages
and documents to customers who use multiple search engines on different sites and set up
access rights for business groups. These are some channels of digital content marketing

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 HISTORY OF CONTENT MARKETING
Some experts say that content marketing started with the caveman as we have been able to
find the first forms of custom publishing in the form of cave paintings dating back to 4200
B.C. However, most agree that John Deere was the pioneering company in content
marketing. It launched its first customer magazine known as “The Furrow” in 1895 and it is
still running. This magazine is considered to be a shining example of content marketing
because instead of just offering advertisements and promotions to customers, it offered
valuable content that customers could benefit from.

Another early example of content marketing is the 400-page long guide offered by Michelin
Tires for its customers. This guide offered tips on automobile care, travel tips and other
vehicle related information and was distributed for free by the company. The guide became
so successful that soon the company was able to sell the guides for a profit. Jell-O is another
brand that was able to use innovative content marketing early on to not only increase profits
but to also make the brand a household name.

When the company was founded, no one knew what Jell-O was and no one ate the product.
The brand launched its own cookbook with recipes involving Jell-O. This book showed
customers how they could use Jell-O in daily cooking and cook up fabulous desserts with
very little time and effort using Jell-O. Other major companies like P&G, Microsoft, Nike,
etc. have practiced content marketing over the years, way before the Internet was born.

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 5 PRINCIPLES OF CONTENT MARKETING

Principle 1: Market Online as You Would Market Offline

There is no reason why online marketing rules should be fundamentally different from offline
practices. The online customers ask the same question as offline customers - they want to
know 'what's in it for them'. Show them the value in your offerings, dazzle them with exciting
stuff and they will ask for more. Similarly, what loyalty programs offline achieve, the same
success can be recreated online as well. Be creative, think what would you offer your
customers to repeat offline and replicate the same online - if it is useful advice they cherish,
then the analogy online would be a powerful blog which offers valuable information.

Principle 2: Remember Word of Mouth is the Most Powerful Online

Many businesses across the world have catapulted to success because of the good word of
mouth they commanded. This phenomenon is faster and more powerful online. With social
channels like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and many niche communities and
networking platforms, you can now spread the word faster and more efficiently. Presence on
these platforms is a must, but the buck does not stop here. Investing effort and creativity into
popularizing these and getting your audience to participate on them is equally critical. The
good news is that these channels are self-feeding to a large extent - once you get the
momentum going, they will thrive and contribute majorly to your success.
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Principle 3: Build Credibility and Prove Authenticity
One of the key problems that Google faces optimizing the results for better user experience is
fighting spam online. Link farms, bad content, keyword stuffing and poor value pages are all
a part of this problem. Sites and pages with these intentions are shady and created hoping
search engines would rank them well, or such pages will pass on the benefit to other intended
sites or pages. Such content or pages online do not have the readers or visitors in mind.
Google is going beyond this and looking for signals to merge the real and virtual world, and
filtering out such spam.

Principle 4: Diversify Your Online Presence

Just like marketing through one channel in the real world often does not suffice, you would
need to diversify your online presence too. Get registered on local directories, guest blog on
relevant niche blogs, tweet, pin, podcast or market through videos - diversify your presence
as much as possible. It's never a good idea to hold all your eggs in one basket. You never
know what may click, become viral or get you the exposure that allows you the leap to the
next level.

Principle 5: Think How You Can Grab More Eyeballs

Visitors to a trade show are most attracted to the stall that dazzles the most. Same holds true
online too. Your website design, content, value proposition, social media presence -
everything matters. Just the average won't do - you will have to dazzle, share your dream and
find opportunities of standing out. Humble beginnings on smaller platforms may just be the
stepping-stones to bigger exposure opportunities.

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 EFFECTIVE CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

Are you sure about the effectiveness of your content? Businesses are beginning to realize the
benefits of attractive online and offline content. The term content marketing is being thrown
around a lot these days but most people do not know how to effectively market their
published content.
Content marketing success is becoming more of a hit-and-miss technique as businesses have
no expertise in creating good content and in marketing it.
Just having good content doesn't cut it anymore. Hiring the services of a professional writing
company is one way of ensuring the effective marketing of your content. They can deliver
good content that can market itself. This will help the long-term growth of the organization by
building the company brand.

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CONTENT MARKETING THROUGH VARIOUS CHANNELS

Content marketing and social media marketing can be highly labor intensive and time
consuming for businesses. In fact, according to a marketing survey conducted by Curata -
creating original, valuable and high-quality content on a regular basis is one of the biggest
challenges that most companies are facing. Publishing content regularly, marketing content
through the right channels, responding to consumers and readers, managing social media
pages, etc. can become a monstrous task for a company. So how can companies ensure that
their brands are being promoted effectively without too much effort? Look to your loyal and
satisfied customers.

If you encourage them properly, they will create and share your content and will become
your brand advocates on social media channels – all without being paid a single penny! Read
on to know how to promote brand advocates from your customer base

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TYPE OF CONTENT

No matter what language you are creating your content in, it needs to be relevant, original
and valuable to customers. You need to be very careful about the culture, laws and acceptable
norms of a country before creating content that is going to be read by its people. Provocative
and erotic content can land you in a lot of trouble in certain countries and your content could
get banned or censored.

a. Linkedin
b. Facebook
c. Pinterest
d. Twitter
e. eBooks
f. Blogs
g. YouTube
h. Instagram etc

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 Chapter – 2
Company Profile

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 COMPANY PROFILE

Pancajanya is your next door Digital Marketing and Advertising firm based in Bhubaneswar,
India with an aim to deliver quality at the crossroads where strategy hangs out with creativity.
At Pancajanya, our creative think tanks and artful eager beavers strive throughout to create
the much required marketing buzz for you amidst your buyer personae.
Our Mission
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five centuries, but also the leap into electronic
Our Vision
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has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer
took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only
five centuries, but also the leap into electronic
Our Philosophy
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has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer
took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only
five centuries, but also the leap into electronic

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 COMPANY SERVICES AND PRODUCTS

CONTENT MARKETING
Content can be broadly defined as the communication, a business wants to put across towards
a certain target online audience, using texts, videos, pictures, infographics, emails, etc. as
mediums to convert them into leads.
For a successful Content Marketing process we follow a 5 phase approach of Attract,
Entertain, Convert, Close and Delight. The 4 phases of Attract, Convert, Close and Delight
are advocated and certified by HubSpot, the world's premier Marketing solutions developer.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

The SEO process involves figuring out the broad range of keywords related to your business,
that people would search for when in need of products or services such as yours.
In simplest terms SEO increases your online visibility and makes your product or service
come up in the search engine results.

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
In today's times, Social Media doesn't need any introduction.You wouldn't find a better place
than Social Media, to tap into people's emotions.
The theory behind Social Media Marketing relies heavily on influencing the buying
behaviour of your potential customers by associating them with similar interest groups of
activities related to your business.

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 Digital Marketing and Customer Acquisition

From optimizing search campaigns to gain maximum leverage on media spends (SEM), to
optimizing your internet property for gaining a better rank in organic search results (SEO),
we ensure that you reach your objectives in the best possible way.

Plan companies social media campaigns to reach your exact target market with the right
communication message.

Understanding brand message and creating interactive videos to showcase your brand
presence is our speciality.

22
Creating custom mailer designs and execute them to drive your inbound marketing strategy.

Creating brand partnerships by leveraging an ecosystem with over 30,000 active partners .

Omni Channel Strategy and Business Solutions:

Designing and developing, visually appealing and functional websites which are accessible to
your audience across multiple platforms. We ensure that whatever we deliver has the highest
quality of experience.

23
Creating integrated campaigns to create brand presence and recall in the mind of your
audience.

We help understand the key pain areas of your CRM process and ensure the elimination of
negative impression of your brand across the web.

Mobile App Development:

Specially designed enterprise and retail apps to ensure that your buyers can easily find and
purchase products, leveraging technology in your favour to increase your revenues .

24
Our visualizers think out of the box every day, thus helping you to leverage on existing
content through innovative concepts to gain revenue.

Apps specifically conceptualized and designed to meet your business objectives. Our team of
highly skilled visualizers, designers and developers, ensure that your users will experience
only the best.

Digital Media Distribution and Solutions:

Brand campaigns using a mix of media and marketing. We partner with some of the largest
music labels globally.

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Distribution of music, videos & other digital content across devices. Our platform and
analytics power some of the largest labels globally.

Want to launch a story telling campaign built around music/videos/films celebrities.

MAJOR CLIENTS OF THE COMPANY:

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 OTHER SERVICES

We handle complete web services

APP DEVELOPMENT
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TRENDS
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ENTERTAINMENT
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WEB DEVELOPMENT
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ADVERTISING
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ANALYTICS
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WEBSITE EAESTHETICS
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TRAINING
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MISCELLANEOUS
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 Chapter – 3
Literature Review

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.Neelika Arora 32has published research article entitled “Trends in Online Advertising” in
advertising Express, Dec2013.
The global online advertising revenues are expected to touch US $10bn by 2015. In India, the
revenues at present are estimated to be Rs.80 cr. and are expected to increase six times more
within the next five years. In India, Internet as a medium is accepted by a wider industrial
segment that includes automobiles, telecom, education, banking, insurance, credit cards,
FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), apparel/clothing, durables, media, business services
and tourism. Out of these, it is estimated that the banking, FMCG and insurance sectors
together account for 45% of the total advertising spend. In comparison to this, automotive,
travel and retail spend 37% of the total advertising revenue and financial service companies
spend 12% only. Some of the top spenders in India are automobiles, followed by brands like
Pepsodent, Kelloggs, Cadbury, HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd.)
loans and Sunsilk. In addition to these the early adopters in the field of finance and IT are
also increasing their spending. Globally, the trend is that almost 60% of the revenue goes to
five firms- Goggle, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL(America Online Launchers), and Overture.
Approximately, 90% of the Goggle revenues come from advertising. In India, portals like
indiatimes.com, exchange4media.com, rediffmail.com, agencyfaqs.com etc are attracting
major online spender.
This article explains demographic profile of Indian users. It also gives the comparison
between global trend and Indian trend, which is useful for my research work.
2.Sumanjeet37 has published article on “On Line Banner Advertising” in Indian Journal of
Marketing.
Online banner advertising has great potential as an advertising medium. It is easy to create,
place and use. It offers companies targeting well educated, innovative, affluent males/females
or students with great potential for success as their segments are highly represented.
3. Jaffrey Graham45 has published his article entitled “Web advertising’s future e-Marketing
strategy” Morgan Stanley Dean Witter published an equity research report analysing the
Internet marketing and advertising industry. The report studies research from dozens of
companies and calculates the cost and effectiveness of advertising across various media.
Branding on the Internet works. For existing brands, the Internet is more effective in driving
recall than television, magazines, and newspapers and at least as good in generating product

29
interest.
4. Advertising in social media: How consumers act after seeing social ads. Adapted from
Nielsen (2012: 10). Social media has not only changed how people communicate online, but
it has also changed the consumption of other media too. Online social connections are used to
filter, discuss, disseminate, and validate news, entertainment, and products for consumption.
(Ryan 2011: 15) The next chapters will explain more about each of the world‘s current most
widely used social medias. There are, of course, many other social networks and applications
(apps) available but considering the study, the focus is on the main Medias.
5. Vikas Bondar has published his article on “sales and marketing strategies” Internet is a
really good thing. The Internet gives people a greater amount of information as we need. It is
the best way to get a comparison of the products that we need. If we are interested in buying,
it is best for us to check the Web sites. Also if we would like to make our own Web page we
can do this, without paying a lot of money. From where do we set all this information? The
answer is from advertising, which we see, everywhere: on TV, on the Internet, in the
newspapers and more. Year after year we get more and more new, interesting information
and in the future the Internet use will increase more than now. This article explains how
internet is useful tool for advertisement.
6. According to Garder‘s survey (2013), the top priority in digital marketing investment will
be to improve commerce experiences through social marketing, content creation and
management and mobile marketing. Key findings also revealed that a company’s marketing
success relies mostly on their website, social marketing, and digital advertising, which are all
parts of digital marketing. In addition, savings made by using digital marketing can be
reinvested elsewhere. Normally, companies spend 10 percent of their revenue on marketing
and 2.4 percent on digital marketing, which will increase to 9 percent in the future.
7.J Suresh Reddy26 has published article in Indian Journal of Marketing. Title of article is
“Impact of E-commerce on marketing”. Marketing is one of the business function most
dramatically affected by emerging information technologies. Internet is providing companies
new channels of communication and interaction. It can create closer yet more cost effective
relationships with customers in sales, marketing and customer support. Companies can
useweb to provide ongoing information, service and support. It also creates positive
interaction with customers that can serve as the foundation for long term relationships and
encourage repeat purchases.

30
 Economic times published article on “Indian companies using digital marketing for
competitive advantage” in Oct 2014.
According to this article a growing number of marketers in India are leveraging digital
marketing to increase their competitive advantage, a research by Adobe and CMO Council
has revealed. According to the study, India leads in the confidence in digital marketing as a
driver of competitive advantage. Ninety-six per cent of the Indian marketers have high
confidence in the ability of digital marketing to drive competitive advantage. It is among the
highest in Asia-Pacific APAC with only Australia leading with 97 per cent, the research said.
However, while Indian marketers believe that the key driver to adopting digital is a growing
internet population (70 per cent in India against 59 per cent in APAC), their belief that
customer preference and digital dependence drive the adoption of digital, and that digital can
engage the audience, is lower than the APAC averages, it added.

The 2014 Adobe APAC Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard was compiled through
quantitative surveys with over 800 marketers across the region.

Marketers from Australia, Korea, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries
were covered. "However, while India is an emerging leader in Digital Marketing, it has
dipped in its own performance this year as compared to the previous year. It is important to
note that India scored much higher than the APAC average last year," it said.

Adobe Managing Director South Asia UmangBedi said that customer preference and digital
dependence would increase along with the increase in penetration of internet in the Indian
market. "Therefore, what would matter is how the Indian marketers are able to increase
engagement and activate audience through digital marketing. This presents challenges in
programme planning, execution and most importantly measurement," he added. The study
also revealed that compared to their APAC counterparts, Indian marketers are receiving
lesser support from channel and sales teams for increasing digital spends. However they are
doing better as compared to last year suggesting that departments that have a customer
interface are realising the importance of digital marketing in augmenting their effort.

9. Andy mallinson in digital marketing magazine on Jan 23 2015 published article titles how
social media engagement will impact the retail space it says

31
Traditionally, social networks have not been used as a tool to directly drive e-commerce
sales, but as Nielsen reported in its Global ecommerce report in August 2014, an estimated
61% of people spend a considerable amount of time researching products through online
channels before making a purchase. And interestingly, a significant 43% of consumers
revealed that they specifically browse through outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Instagram and Google+ to seek inspiration for the types of products to buy.

This last statistic reveals just how powerful social media can be in terms of enticing shoppers
to make a purchase, both through its use of visual content and product descriptions. But while
many consumers still have reservations about purchasing items through social channels
directly, the social shopping phenomenon is clearly only going to grow and it’s apparent that
this growth will eventually have a positive impact on a retailer’s bottom line.

One retailer which enjoyed success by promoting its products via social media is ASOS. At
the start of 2014, ASOS previewed their summer sale through a Facebook application,
allowing fans to play a series of games to accumulate points, getting them to the front of the
virtual shopping queue. The winners gained first access to the sale, and through the support
of sponsored ads ASOS was able to generate 1 million views through the application,
growing their fan base by 32%.

This example shows how much potential there is for brands to drum up organic publicity for
their products whilst engaging through fans across social media channels. Furthermore, it
proves that social media outlets have evolved not only as a tool for driving community
growth, but also as a revenue driving commodity to boost business performance.

Retailers mustn’t underestimate the power of social engagement as a method of generating

sales. This was proved by Wanted Shoes, who recently worked with us to design and
integrate a ‘social catalogue’ onto their site. The social catalogue depicted real-life images of
products that customers had recently purchased. When hovering over a post, users of the site
were then directed to a link to buy the exact shoe displayed in the picture, or alternatively,
were able to shop for other shoes from that designer.

Supporting the concept that that social media engagement can facilitate purchase orders,
according to Nielsen, 77% of shoppers say ‘social exposure’ and validation to a product is the
most persuasive source of information, and does indeed drive them to make more purchases.
After all, we mustn’t forget how powerful the trust of our peers can be, and this has a direct
impact of driving revenue.

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As Wanted Shoes experienced, by showcasing its products in a customer driven catalogue,
they were able to boost revenue and encourage more people to engage with their brand.
Following this example as well as the other retail giants that have enjoyed impressive results
through social channels, the retailer that ignores the power of social engagement in 2015
could potentially miss out on a substantial revenue stream – one that could decide the
difference between success and failure in an increasingly competitive retail landscape.

10. Avinashkaushik is an indian entrepreneur published an article in dec 2014 titled digital
marketing and analytics are two ladders of magnificent success.

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 Chapter – 4

Objectives and Research

Methodology

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1) To study content marketing

2) To study content marketing strategy

3) To study online marketing

4) To understand the digital marketing models.

5) To understand marketing effectiveness.

6) To understand how content marketing campaign's takes place.

7) To understand how content marketing has impact on revenue generation.

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 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

The study aims to understand the massive contribution of Online marketing as a part of Content
Marketing and to know its splendid effects towards contenting marketing in practice and also to find
out some challenges in using online marketing as a tool of content marketing. The recommendations
of this research can be used to frame an appropriate content marketing strategy in which companies
can give special consideration to online marketing along with the other traditional tools of IMC.

Research problem

This study focuses on following problems –

 Should companies integrate various marketing tools for content marketing about its brand?

 How do consumers get awareness about different content marketing tools?

 How online marketing plays important role in companies’ marketing strategy?

 What are the reasons for growing popularity of online marketing among consumers? How is online
marketing advantageous over content marketing?
 What are the loopholes in online marketing?

Research objectives:

Based on the above research problems, the research objectives are as follows,

 To understand the importance of Integrated Marketing Communication.

 To understand the importance of Online advertising in changing market scenario.

 To understand the reasons for growing popularity of online marketing.

 To analyze the effectiveness of online marketing as compared to content marketing tools.

 To identify the limitations of online marketing as IMC tool.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The first step is to formulate a research design. This means planning a strategy of conducting
research. It is a detailed plan of how the goals of research will be achieved. Research design is
exploratory, descriptive and/or experimental in nature. It is helping the investigator in
providing answers to various kinds of social/economic questions. After collecting and
analysis of the data, the researcher has to accomplish the task of drawing inferences. Only
through interpretation researcher can expose relations and processes that underlie his findings
and ultimately conclusions. Interpretation refers to the task of drawing inferences from the
collected facts after an analytical study. It is a search for broader meaning and research
findings. It is the device through which factors that seem to explain what has been observed
by researcher in the course can be better understood and provides theoretical conception
which serve as a guide for further researches. It is essential because it will lead towards
findings of the study and proper effective conclusions of the study.
In the present study, researcher has followed Descriptive research. Descriptive research is
usually a fact finding approach generalizing a cross - sectional study of present situation. The
major goal of descriptive research is to describe events, phenomenon and situations on the
basis of observation and other sources.

Survey Method:

The survey method is the technique of gathering data by asking questions from people who are thought
to have the desired information. Every effort should be made to state the objectives in specific terms.

Data Collection:

Data collection means to a purposive gathering of information relevant to the subject matter of the
study from the units under research. Primary data are empirical observations gathered by the
researcher or his associates for the first time for any research and used by them in statistical analysis.
There are several methods of collecting primary data particularly in descriptive researches.

Here the primary data has been collected through Google forms.

In present study published and unpublished sources of secondary data have been used. Secondary
data was collected to provide the report with necessary theoretical back up. Information related to
IMC, online marketing & its implication etc. was collected through various secondary sources such as
research journals, reference books, business magazines and content sharing websites.

37
 Sampling methods:

Sample selection is undertaken for practical impossibility to survey entire population by applying
rationality in selection of samples to generalize the findings of research. A complete enumeration of
all items of the population is known as census enquiry. But practically considerations of time and cost
almost invariably lead to a selection of respondents called sampling techniques.

In present study researcher has used stratified probability sampling with - Sample size: 100
 Area covered – All over Odisha

 Sample frame – Educational institutions & corporate offices.

Data analysis tools for research:

To analyze data collected through structured questionnaire researcher used Ms-Excel.

Limitations of the study

The study is limited to urban area only and most of the survey is done in urban areas. The study may
vary for rural area.

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 Chapter -5
Data Analysis and Interpretation

39
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1. How much time do you spend on internet?

% of respondents

20% 18%

22%

40%

0-1 1 to 2 2 to 4 more than 4

GRAPH SHOWS THE TIME CONSUMER SPEND ON INTERNET EVERYDAY

I. From Q.5, it is revealed that 18% of respondents use internet for less than 1 hour.
II. 22% of respondents use internet for 1-2 hour.
III. 40% use internet for 3-4 hours
IV. Whereas, 20% use internet for more than 4 hours.

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 2. How important following factors are to motivate you to like the brand on internet?

% of respondents

7%
14%

46%

33%

stay tuned with co activities share ideas get to know about brands and its future extension

GRAPH SHOWS THE PERCENTAGE OF CONSUMER USE INTERNET FOR

AWARENESS

It is observed that when respondents were asked about their convergence with internet for
shopping;

I. 7% company activities.
II. 14% share ideas.
III. 33% know about company extension.
IV. 46% get offers and discount updates.

It means major percentage of respondents is very well knowledgeable about internet. They
are well convergent with various usage, functions and benefits being offered by internet to
acknowledge about brands’ activities.

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 3. Purpose for using internet (rating on the scale of 10)

% respondents use

28%
37%

23% 12%

Social Media Blogging Surfing Shopping

GRAPH SHOWS THE PURPOSE FOR USING INTERNET

I. As per the survey, 37% of respondents use most of their time on social media.
II. 12% of people use most of their time on blogging.
III. 23% of people use most of their time on surfing.
IV. 28% of people use most of their time on shopping.

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4. Do companies should include online activities in their marketing strategy?

GRAPH SHOWS THE OPINION OF RESPONDENTS FOR COMPANIES TO USE

THEIR ONLINE MARKETING ACTIVITIES

OPINION OF RESPONDENTS

strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree

It is observed that when respondents were asked whether companies should use online
activities in marketing efforts;
I. 16% were strongly disagreed.
II. 21% shown disagreement.
III. 11% had no opinion on this question.
IV. 21% shown agreement and,
V. 31% were strongly agreed.
It means majority of respondents are completely agreed that companies should use online
activities in their marketing efforts. Since online activities facilitate good access and higher
reach to the customers; companies must take this advantage by incorporating online
advertising in their marketing strategy.

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 5. What benefits does online marketing offer over the traditional marketing?

25% 24%

12%
23%
16%

Wide range of information Low cost Ease of shopping Intactive Medium Time saving

GRAPH SHOWS THE BENEFITS OF ONLINE MARKETING OVER OFFLINE

MARKETING

it is observed from above graph that

I. 24% of respondents find online marketing advantageous as it offers wide range of
information about the brand,
II. 23% of respondents find online marketing advantageous as it offers ease of shopping,
III. 16% of respondents find online marketing advantageous as it saves consumer’s time,
IV. 12% of respondents find online marketing advantageous as it involves low cost in
purchase,
V. 25% of respondents find online marketing advantageous as it is an interactive
medium.

It means majority of respondents favor for interactive ability of online marketing which is not
applied in case of traditional mediums like print ads, television. Consumers like to exchange
their views and share their feedback when it comes to evaluating the brand or for taking
purchase decision.

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 6. What loopholes does online marketing carry over traditional marketing tools?

17% 16%

21% 26%

20%

More Susceptible privacy issue

More scope for fraudulent activities Often interrupting
Lack of demonstration

GRAPH SHOWS THE LOOPHOLES OF ONLINE MARKETING

From Q 6.2.10, it is observed that

I. 17 % of respondents find online marketing is not safe as it is more susceptible.

II. 26% of respondents find online marketing is not safe as there is more scope of
fraudulent activities.
III. 20% of respondents find online marketing is not safe as it lacks demonstrations.
IV. 21% of respondents find online marketing is not safe as it may result in some serious
privacy issues.
V. 16% of respondents find online marketing is not safe as it is often interrupting.

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 Chapter -6
FINDINGS & SUGGESTION

46
 FINDINGS & SUGGESTION

1. Most of the real sector people actually understanding the value and opportunities of
content marketing.
2. With the study of social marketing I came to its emergence and extreme growth in
today’s scenario.
3. What I found in client servicing is convincing clients is bit complex as they too have
complete knowledge about the online marketing and also explaining how we are better
than others.
4. Most of the sectors initially opt for the content marketing channels name search engine
optimization, search engine marketing and social media marketing and later they will
think about other channels which mean these three channel high acceptance.
5. It is easier to approach a company’s if you first send them an E-mailer to related sector
and then call them in fact sometimes the company itself call having seen the E-mailer.
6. Indian customers are highly information seekers. They collect more information about
quality, price and refer customer’s experiences before purchasing a product.
7. Advertisements have high impact for creating stimulus in Indian customers. But this
stimulus will get in to action only through opinion leaders.
8. Indian consumers have high tendency to go for online purchase. They have high
affinity to go online for electronic products and apparels.
9. One of the current trends in Indian youth and young Indians are watching the T.V
programs via online portals. May be the main reason is convenience of time, they can
watch programs which they had skipped due to some reasons.
10. The same thing is happening for the newspaper also, people have more affinity towards
online news portals. Here's the reason may be they can get news updates very early;
they don’t need to wait for daily newspapers.
11. In both of these cases, one opportunity is lost for marketer and one opportunity is
emerging for them to reach their T.G.

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 CONCLUSION

Generally online marketing is getting more and more budget allocated from the
companies with the help of content marketing. Small companies, startups and
individual entrepreneurs are jumping into the waters of social media marketing
without a proper preparation or strategy. For many it is a waste of their time and
money, not because online marketing is not working, but their using it wrong. Likes,
followers, shares don’t pay the bills, what is, are the goals when being accomplished.

One of the most important things about online marketing that I have learned when
writing this thesis is: to use the common sense. Build on this I would like to shortly
conclude the best practices for doing effective social media and content marketing:

1. Set a goal and always look at it. Whatever you decide to do it has to always make
sense to the goal of the business you’re doing it for.
2. Develop strategy and after think about the tactics and tools. It doesn’t necessarily
mean that if the competition is using a particular social platform, you have to use it
too. The more platforms is used ineffectively the more energy, money and time you
are wasting. Is is important to choose the right strategy for the goals and then choose
which social media and content will help you to achieve it.
3. Think about long term affectivity. Student Agency case study is an example how
tactics that are being labeled as bad and unethical, can drive potential success. But the
affectivity and duration is questionable. It is the matter of risk when trying to do
something fast with non-transparent techniques, rather than chose a more difficult
way, but with a long term affectivity.
4. Customer are the ones paying you. Focusing on the must be the priority. Customers’
decision making significantly changed and it is more difficult for company to just push
their message through. Youtility, helping consumers and making their lives easier is
the way how to be memorized.

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 QUESTIONNAIRE

1) Age
 Under18
 18-21
 22-25
 26-30
 30+
 40+
 50+

2) Gender
 Female
 Male

EXPOSURE

3) Which of the following social media sites you are using on a daily basis? (Please
select all the platforms you arousing)
 Social Networking Sites (e.g. Facebook)
 Micro blogging(e.g.Twitter)
 Blogs/Forums
 Social Bookmarking Sites/ Social News (e.g. Reddit, Digg)
 Photo &Video Sharing Sites (e.g. Flickr, Youtube)

4) What is the time (approx.) spent by you on social media sites per week?
 0 hour
 1-3hours
 4-6hours
 7-9hours
 10 hours or more

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 5) What is the time (approx.) spent on the mass media (TV, radio, magazine,
newspaper and so on) per week?
 0 hour
 1-3hours
 4-6hours
 7-9hours
 10 hours or more

6) Do you think that with the social media sites, you are able to fetch
products/services information actively?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
7) Do you have pre conceived notion towards a particular product and/or service before an
actual consumption?

 Always
 Often
 Sometimes
 Seldom
 Rarely
 Never

50
8) Which of the following factors is the cause of your pre conceived? (You may
select more than one answer)
 Previous experience
 Knowledge or awareness of the brand
 Brand reputation
 Information from the internet (e.g. user reviews, blogs, forums, and soon)
 Information from the mass media (e.g. TV, radio, magazine, and soon)
 Information from peers, friends, or family members

9) How often you tend to fetch the information that is consistent with your initial
opinion/preference for purchase?

 Always
 Often
 Sometimes
 Seldom
 Rarely
 Never

10) Does social media triggers you to purchase product/service?

 Yes
 No
 Not sure

11) Do you think advertisements on mass media are attractive?

 Yes
 No

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12) Which of the following mass media channels you find most attractive?

 TV
 Radio
 Newspaper
 Magazine

13) Do you agree that information searching is easier via social media comparing
to mass media (e.g. TV, radio, newspaper, and soon)?

 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree

14) How often you search for related information on social media before
a purchase?

 Always
 Often
 Sometimes
 Seldom
 Rarely
 Never

52
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Assael Henry (2006). Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action.
(New York : Thomson Learning)

Baroota K.D. (2008). Experimental Design in Behavioural Research.

(New Delhi : New Age International (P) Limited)

Gupta S.P. (2007). Statistical Methods.(New Delhi : S. Chand and Sons)

Hawkins De., Best Roger J. and Caney Kenneth A. (1996). Consumer Behavior.
(New Delhi : Tata Mc Graw Hill Publishing Co. (P) Ltd.)

Research Articles
Ahuja, R.D.B. and K.M. Stinson (1993). „Female-Headed Single Parent Families!
An Exploratory
Study of Children‟s Influence in Family Decision Making.
Advances in Consumer Research.20.469-474.

AldaHeunis(2003). „Responsible Marketing to Kids Public Relations

News.(August).
from http://www.biz_community.com

Atkin, C. (1978) „Observation of Parent-Child Interaction in Supermarket

Decision-Making.‟
Journal of Marketing.42.(October). 41-45.

Websites:

 http://www.autodirect.com

 www.altavista.com

 www.bathinda.nic.in

 www.ludhiana.nic.in

 www.managermentor.com

 www.msn.com

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